Duncan and Courtney Go Fishing
by Sinematic
Summary: One-shot. Duncan and Courtney have run out of sports to compete at and have settled on fishing: who will be the winner? Can someone really 'win' at fishing? The answer is more complex than you'd think.


**So I just got dragged up north, and I was inspired to write an awkward fishing story because that's all we do up there. (I throw mine back always. Fish are friends haha!) I love all you little fishies :3 Thank you in advance to anyone who favorites, reviews, or reads!**

...

"Foul!"

"That was not! I can't help it if your oafish feet can't get out of my way!"

"Courtney, you punched me in the face!"

"Well," she fumbled for words, "Stop being a baby!"

"Oh, I'm being a baby? You're just a sore loser," Duncan countered with a lopsided grin.

She huffed through her nose, "Don't get so high and mighty. You're only one basket ahead, and according to my watch, I still have twelve seconds."

"You better get dribbling then, Princess!"

And he immediately regretted those words. Fueled by the intense hatred she held for his nettling pet names, Courtney powered past him and made a basket. With glaring acquiescence, Duncan heard the resolute tone of her watch. He pulled a crumpled piece of paper, an old bus ticket, from his pocket.

"OH YEAH! IN YOUR FACE, DUNCAN!"

He sighed, studying the back of the small scrap, "Yeah well, according to my count, we're still tied."

Courtney's verve settled, "Oh, right."

Duncan squinted at the ticket, "So we tied at basketball. You won golf and swimming."

"And you won tennis!" Courtney recalled, stretching her arms.

"Yeah," Duncan nodded his head, lost with his thinking.

"We could try hockey," Courtney spitballed.

"Nah, we already did skating and table hockey," he countered, "As far as I'm concerned, it's the same thing."

"You just know I'd win."

"Court, we're Canadian. It'd be a tie."

"That is stereotyping!"

His brow furrowed and he continued, "So far we've done lacrosse, foot racing, drag racing, downhill skiing, hop scotch, mountain climbing, paddle boating, football, ping-pong, interpretive dance, arm wrestling, extreme bike racing... Damn, we've done it all."

Courtney's head snapped up with a sudden idea. She grinned mischievously, "Maybe not."

He looked at her expectantly and chuckled, "I like that look. What are you thinking?"

"It's a pretty esoteric interest so we'll be evenly matched," she continued, her eyes pensive.

"I can't wait all day, Princess!" Duncan said drolly.

"Oh you won't have to! Follow me," she commanded, turning on her heel.

...

"And this is what you had in mind?" Duncan asked, steadying himself, "Fishing?!" His words echoed across the smooth water and Courtney's grandpa's metal boat swayed slightly. They were in the middle of a small, sparkling fishing lake ringed with tall, bushy pine trees. Dead pines as white as bones were scattered around; some had fallen in the shallows of the lake, providing a place for mud turtles to sun themselves.

Courtney looked wary, but smiled, "Whoever catches the biggest one is the winner?"

Duncan frowned, "But neither of us know how to fish."

She nodded her head, "Yeah, well, we were running out of sports."

"Is this even a sport?!" Duncan cried, starling a small family of geese to splash off into a frenzied flight.

"Well even if it isn't, you're going to lose."

"Oh yeah?! Bring it, Princess!"

After jabbing his finger several times with the hook, Duncan finally attached a neon green lure to the end of his casting pole. Courtney scratched her tan nail polish in an attempt to secure a rubber worm to the end of her hook.

The pair had been spending an extraordinary amount of time together ever since the show ended. Sadly, Duncan and Gwen didn't stay together. They agreed mutually to stay friends, and every time a new horror movie came out they made sure to see it together.

It happened like this: The cast was climbing off the plane that had rescued them from Hawaii, prepared to go their separate ways. Many of them looked relieved, but Duncan happened to glance at Courtney. She gamely kept a neutral face, but one look at her tired brown eyes told him just how broken she felt. He'd sheepishly approached her and apologized, ensuing a berating of him for half an hour before she kicked him and stomped away. But he didn't give up because he knew that behind her steely gaze and crossed arms was someone trying to cage up all the hurt, and tough as she was, he knew it would destroy her.

So he followed her to the bus stop and apologized, and he sat behind her on the bus and apologized, and he followed her off the bus and apologized. She tried to ignore him, but the more he apologized, the more she felt like killing him. So as she walked and he followed, her face heated with anger and her clean nails cut into her palm and she punched him squarely in the jaw. And with the crack of the impact and the sight of Duncan's surprised, wide eyes, the reticent dam burst. Just like that, all the anger and all the pain disgorged and she started to cry. Duncan held her while she choked on her tears, smoothed her hair, and whispered assuring things like "It's okay" and "I'm so sorry".

Embarrassed by her display of weakness, she shoved him away. He quickly offered to race her to the next traffic sign in sight, a dingy yellow yield sign, and she conceded. Tossing their luggage aside, Courtney kicked off her heels and they sprinted against each other, neck and neck. In the end however, Courtney won. Breathing hard, Duncan pulled out his bus ticket and an old pencil, and scrawled on the back: foot race- Courtney.

So he continued to challenge her, and with each new step, hit, swing, stroke, or jump Courtney felt better. And as Courtney felt better, he grew happier.

"I got something! I got something!" Courtney squealed, standing and wobbling the boat, "What do I do?"

"Reel it in!" Duncan pointed to the grey plastic crank with one hand and holding onto the tipping vessel with the other.

"Right! Oh, Duncan. You are so going down."

Her line hissed as she furiously twirled the lever, and soon the catch was in sight. She reeled it up to eye level and Duncan didn't even try to stifle his laughter.

"Yeah, you really showed me! No, please, let's turn around now! I can't beat that!"

"Ribbit," went her catch. The yellow eyed frog that was clamped on her hook watched her and they exchanged annoyed glares with each other.

"A frog? A stupid frog?!" Courtney yelled.

"Calm down, Princess," Duncan smiled. Suddenly he brightened and pointed at Courtney and her catch, "The Princess and the frog!" he laughed, "You can't make this stuff up. You better kiss him!"

She hurled the now freed animal at him, "Kiss this!"

Duncan chuckled and tossed the creature back into the lily pad infested waters.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, grabbing his jerking pole, "something bit mine!"

They waited a second and Duncan's excitement waned. "It got off," he groaned, reeling up his empty hook.

A ways away, a loon crawed its loud, reedy call, no doubt enjoying the sunshine. Courtney cleared her throat and tossed her line into the water, "So, knuckle walker, what should we do after this?"

Duncan scratched his head, "I don't think there's anything left to do. We're banned from the gym, and I doubt we'll be able to get into the park again with all those angry bird watchers looking for us." He smirked, "Plus the bus ticket's almost full."

She looked into the water and replied quietly, "Oh, yeah."

He thought about the ticket stub he kept in his pocket and how the entire backside held pencil smudges and pen scratches that recorded the past weeks' events like an official log. It was just a hackneyed shred of wrinkled paper, and yet it signified the end of it all.

"But," Duncan started, leaning back in his chair and stretching, "we can always do other stuff!"

"No, you're right. The ticket's full! That's just that." she said pseudo happily, avoiding eye contact.

Duncan stood up, rocking the boat, "No, Courtney." He pulled the stub from his pocket and dropped it into the water.

"What are you doing?!" she cried, leaning over the side to retrieve it. He grabbed her hands to stop her.

"If the only reason we can't keep doing this is because the ticket's full, then I'll go buy an empty notebook the size of the Bible and we'll keep going until it's filled up too! Because-"

"Duncan, look," Courtney pointed at the water. A fat sunfish was sniffing the floating ticket. Duncan slowly reached for the net, holding his breath as not to perturb the fish with any kind of noise. He handed the net to Courtney. She hovered it above the water, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The sunfish began to back away, and Courtney slashed into the lake, snaring the unsuspecting fish.

"Duncan! We caught a fish!" she cheered. Stray water droplets sparkled on her flushed cheeks.

The soggy ticket stump sat next to the confused, wriggling fish in the net. Courtney spoke up, "Did you mean what you said?" her mouth curled into a tiny smile, "You don't want this to stop?"

Duncan returned the smile and nodded, "I could hang out with you, Princess, for awhile atleast."

"Princess and the frog, huh," she mused, locking eyes, "Well, you're gross like a frog..."

Duncan closed his eyes and leaned in, but was unpleasantly surprised when a pair of cold, slimy lips mashed against his own.

Courtney giggled and tossed the fish back into the water.

"Bad idea, Princess!" he yelled, wiping off his smiling mouth.

She crossed her arms and looked down her nose at him primly, "Why's that?"

Duncan grabbed her waist and pulled her into him, inhaling her warm, sugary scent. Not bothering to answer her, he tilted his head down and met her lips against his.

"I win," Duncan whispered, and Courtney didn't even care.

...


End file.
